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Season of the Witch
Summary The main antagonist, Adria the Witch , is revealed to be building a small army of Goblins deep within the Briarwood Forest. Her army starts to raid the outlying villages of the Barony of Briarwood to entice the Lord to send his guards to deal with the problem. With sporadic attacks at several fringe farms to reduce the number of guards and cripple morale, she waits for the proper time to reveal her greatest and deadliest of creations. Index ''Characters: *Primary: Kyson of Blackbriar | Talik of Blackbriar | Tethys Thornwalker | Moro Frogstalker | Mathys Da'gul | Adria of Blackbriar *Secondary: Iona Alba | Padryn Alba | Bardos Alba | Blackwing | Creatures: *Grey Spider | Forest Goblin | Morblin Locations: *Thornhaven | Thistletop | Spider Cave Magic: * Wings (spell) * Stone Owl Organizations: * Barony of Briarwood * Web Wood Coven * House of Alba * Religion: * Gizad Miscellaneous: '' * Azure Bloom * Satyr Leaf * Mead Moon Plot Summary Blah ''PART 1: Autumn: 'Scene 1: Blackthorn Lake' #Three friends, Kyson, Talik and Moro Frogstalker, are at a small inlet where the Thistle Run connects to the western edge of Blackthorn Lake. ##Kyson is practicing his newly constructed "Wings" spell that will allow him to glide for a brief time on magically constructed, giant wings. ##Kyson was collecting some azure bloom for one of the instructors at the Priory and picking up some tried Satyr Leaf from Moro Frogstalker for his Alchemy master and decided to take a break to try out the spell once more. ##Kyson is confident in his magic - at least in theory. He is not, however, confident in his ability to conquor his fear of heights. When Kyson continually steps back from the edge of the rocky outcropping he and Talik are standing on above the water - too afraid to jump, Talik grabs him by the belt and the scruff of his robes and tosses him into the air. ##Kyson's spell works - he is able to create a pair of giant wings attached to his back that permit him to glide out along the western shores of the lake - for a few moments. He manages to turn himself back towards shore but is too low and eventually skims to the surface and before he gets to shore bounces off the water like a stone being skipped. ##Drenched, he slogs his way out of the lake and onto shore and dries himself off with a simple cantrip. Scene 2: Thornhaven #It is the start of the Mead Moon Celebration in the year 879 KR , during the second month of Autumn, Brindle, in the town of Thornhaven, March of Blackthorn , Barony of Briarwood . #A traveling Pilgrim , Barthom Grey , has arrived with the Silver-Maul caravan during the start of the Mead Moon in the town of Thornhaven. #Kyson heads to the market to find his master and have a look at the Caravan's wares. He doesn't have much money but there's no hurt in looking through the book dealer's scribal supplies. ## While in the market, Kyson hears about a goblin raid that have happened in the north of the Barony - near his parent's village of Blackbriar. ## He is releaved to hear that Lord Bardos has sent a detachment of guards to investigate and deal with the problem. Goblin raids are not uncommon for this early in fall but they're easily put down once the soldiers of House Alba are sent to deal with them. ## Most believe that the goblin raid is an isolated, if tragic, incident. Goblins, occasionally, will come out of the deep woods and raid small settlements or farms for food. They're usually defeated without much effort. They occur only once every five or so years. #Balkin Quill-Burner, a book dealer within the caravan, has come to know Kyson and his interest in rare books and calls his attention when he walks by. ##The young apprentice is introduced to the Pilgrim by Balkin. ##The Pilgrim tells Kyson that he has a message for the Prior, Master Tethys. So, being a dutiful apprentice, he invites him to the Priory. Scene 3: The Priory #Upon returning to the Priory, Kyson is stopped by the Maid, Gwenda, as he passed through the kithchen. She asks him to help her remove a stain from Master Tethys' morning coat. She had been cleaning his chamber and accidentally spilled one of the ink bottles on his desk onto the garment. She's worried that Tethys will be upset with her and she can't afford to get fired. Kyson, her friend, asks her for a kitchen rag and magically moves the stain from the morning coat to the rag. #Kyson heads to his master's laboratory to drop off the basket of Azure Bloom and he's told by one of the cleaning girls that Remmick has gone to the market to see the caravan. #A Dwarven Instructor within the priory, the Alchemist Remmick Bright-Hammer, is glad to see that Kyson has extended the hospitality of the Priory to a Pilgrim and invites him to join him in the dwarven celebration of the Mead Moon while they wait for Tethys to return from the Keep. Kyson is also invited to join them in the feast and the traveler begins explaining why he's come to Thornhaven. #Another dwarf, a visiting Master, Thorvan Strongbeard, stops by the Priory to check in with Remmic and is invited to join as well. Scene 4: Mead Moon Feast #It was revealed by the Traveler that he did not accompany the Caravan on their way down from North Shield but rather he came up through the Barony of Wyrmwood. ##Kyson tells the story of how he and his Halfling friend, Morrow, came across the Singing Stone in the forest. ##Barthom is curious about the stone and asks if Kyson could show him the way to it. ##Kyson tells the Pilgrim that he'll have to get permission from the Prior, Tethys, to be gone from the priory for the days that it will take to get there and back. #Kyson and the Pilgrim speak with Kyson's Master, Tethys, for permission to miss a week's lessons while he escorts him to the stone in the forest. #The Mead Moon Celebration lasts a week, during which there are no classes at the Priory. ## With the goblin raid on his mind, Tethys is hesitant to grant permission but the Pilgrim reminds him that it is an isolated incident to the north of the barony that had already been resolved by Lord Bardos. Tethys agrees but tells Kyson to take Talik with him for protection. Scene 5: The Journey Begins #The group sets out from the town of Thornhaven with Kyson, Barthom , Mathys and Talik. It will take them about three days to get there and three days back. #The first night the party spent on their journey wasn't without its difficulties. ## Barthom slept in his Pilgrim's Hammock under a low-slung tarp. The boys slept under the stars on a roll of deer hide wrapped in their cloaks. ##In the middle of the night it began to rain. ###Not having any tents or tarps with them (because the Talik said that they wouldn't need one) Kyson had to conjure his rain shield spell and leave it hovering over them for the rest of the night. A big...glowing...blue disk. ###The glowing blue disk glows with the same illumination as a dull camp fire but it's still glowing. Anyone or anything in the forest looking down upon their position could see it. #While starting their journey into the Briarwood, Kyson and the Dwarf, are found by Moro. One of the halflings from her village, a hunter named Blackwing , hasn't returned from a hunt in the area and she needs help to find him. #The Pilgrim, having never met one of the Hanabril before, encourages Kyson and the others to help Moro and helping her find Blackwing. #The three friends enter the Spider Cave to look for the missing halfling. Scene 6: The Cave #The cave is wide enough for the three of them to walk down the tunnels nearly shoulder to shoulder but the web fluff that hangs from the edges and the ceiling reduce them to single file. #Talik, being half-dwarf, is able to see in the diminished light of the cave but Kyson and Marko aren't so lucky so Kyson withdraws his wand and produces a light spell. # There are clear signs of a struggle in the cave's entrance and several cat-sized spiders called "Grey Spiders " are found dead here and there. ##Marko spots a trail in the moss and identifies it as 'Glow Foot '. #They continue inside and find more clues that Blackwing was recently within the caves but there was no clear reason as to why he would venture inside. The cave was known to the halflings as a bad place full of danger. ##They find Blackwing's Bow . #Eventually the party comes across Blackwing who has been partially webbed to a wall and surrounded by a few Grey spiders. The trio of friends fight them off and try and tend to Moro's fallen hunter. #Marko, the Alchemist, uses a weird potion to disolve the webstuff to free the halfling but his potions can't reverse the spider's venom from where he was bitten. #The Pilgrim is able to revive for a while but not for long; just long enough to try and get some answers. #While Moro and the Pilgrim, Barthom, are healing Blackwing, Talik, Kyson and Marko are searching the chamber for any sign that might have explained why the halfling was taken inside the cave. #A pair of goblins emerges from one of the branching tunnels and attack Kyson, Talik and the Alchemist Marko. #More spiders begin approaching but from multiple directions. Talik is able to hold them off in one direction for a while with his axes while Marko drives some back with his potions in a cloud of sulferous smoke. #Kyson decides to try and cast a super-charged light spell to blind and confuse the spiders but he has to let it get dark first. ##Marko takes a swig of cat's eye elixir to see in the shadows and turns his back on Kyson so he won't be blinded by the blast. #Kyson lets the light on his wand almost go out and then re-casts all of the light stored inside it all at once. The effect drains the wand of its magic but releases so much light that the spiders are stunned and driven back for a while. The light spell is not permanent but it lingers in the air for a while and is rapidly decaying. ## When Kyson detonates such a large amount of mana in the light spell, a flash of something catches the corner of his eye. As the spiders retreat he turns to investigate it for a moment as the Pilgrim picks up Blackwing. The thing still shines as though it reacted with the light spell in some fashion. For a moment it held onto the residual glow of mana. ##Kyson discovers that it's a small Owl Figurine among the old and decayed remains of what looked humanoid. Since it was only a foot or two from where Blackwing was found he picks it up thinking it might belong to the halfling. #The Pilgrim carries Blackwing and they all retreat towards the entrance when they hear a hissing-scream from one of the tunnels. Kyson now casts light from himself through the wand to give them a way to see the way out. Scene 7: The Hanabril Village #The party escapes from the caves with only a bit of trouble from the grey spiders and a few more goblins before heading south for the Hanabril village of Thistletop . #The party is met by group of the village's hunters as they approach. The village is on high alert due to a few spider and goblin raids on their perimeter. #The hunters, seeing Blackwing injured, quickly escort the group to see Shalendra Tallgrass , the village's leader and chief of their healers. #Rarely are non-halflings ever permitted to enter one of their villages. The Pilgrim is excited for the opportunity. In the few years that Kyson and Talik have known Moro she has never invited them to the village because of her people's history with humans. ##Though it has never happened in the North Marches, Hanabril villages in the south have been raided for slave labor a few times in the past decade. #The leaders of the village are grateful for Kyson and the others for returning Blackwing to them and permit them one night's rest before they continue back to the town of Thornhaven. #That night Kyson has a nightmare about the fall of Solongard ##Because he has used so much of his mana to fight off the spiders and the goblins to get free of the cave, the Owl Figure was able to absorb some of it and it starts to wake up. ##The nightmares that Kyson experiences are actually Ambrodel's memories stored within the Simulachron. #Late that night, when the village is sleeping, they are attacked by a force of goblins and grey spiders. ##Adria can't risk the news of her forces gathering getting back to the humans. #Adria's forces are a mixture of Goblin Raiders, Grey Spiders and, to defeat the Halfling's Wall, three Giant Spiders the size of a horse. Scene 8: The Priory #The Pilgrim and the boys return to the Priory to tell Master Tethys of what they found. #As proof of their tales of giant spiders and such, Mathys pulls out a spider's leg the size of a staff. #Tethys, now convinced of the threat, goes to tell Iona Alba , the Lady of the House. ##Lord Bardos and his eldest son has headed north with a force of men to deal with the goblin raids on the northern villages and settlements and has not returned. #Lady Iona, at the urging of her son, Padryn sends word to the Green Wardens of a potential threat Part 2: Return to the Cave Scene 1: The Youngest Son #The Pilgrim and the Boys report what they found to Lady Iona. #Padryn Alba, as his youngest son and a hopeful for the Green Wardens, forms a group of guards to investigate the cave for his father. His mother, the Lady Iona, objects. ##Lord Bardos and his eldest son Daegan Alba are in the north of the barony handling the reports of goblin raids. ##The Pilgrim, Barthom, volunteers to lead the party to the cave. ##Talik wants to go back and investigate the Dwarven Tomb that they discovered but weren't able to enter. ##Mathys, a student at the Priory, decides to accompany Talik. ##The group numbers twelve in total (4 principles and 8 guards) ##They will get there in half the time as they will be riding on horses. #Kyson is unable to follow because Tethys has arranged for him to be tested by the leaders of the Azure Council - who arrived earlier than expected. ##Kyson has demonstrated abnormal proficiency with his ability to control the flow of mana through his body. ##He has been identified for his ability to grasp complex spells in record time and Tethys alerted the council to this a month ago when he successfully shielded not only himself but also Lady Kyrean from a swarm of Striges. ##The Council is very concerned about Tethys' claims and the boy's potential power. Scene 2: Messenger #A Hanabril Hawk-Rider named Stormwind arrives at the Priory to tell Kyson that the Guards and the Pilgrim have been captured by goblins at the Cave. Scene 3: A Rescue #Kyson, still in the process of his test (which takes three days), discovers that the party is in danger. #Kyson tells Master Tethys but is told he can not leave until the test is complete. If he does so - he will not be allowed to become a 'real' wizard. ##Tethys tells him that he will inform Lady Iona and let her deal with the matter. Kyson is frustrated. ##Tethys asks Kyson to be his Apprentice, elevating him from Novice. ##Tethys offers him a bronze, oak leaf ring set with a small green stone as the sign of his new Apprenticeship. #Kyson, frustrated with the council's demand that he remain, sneaks out of the Priory and flies/glides as far as he can to get close to the cave. ##Kyson is able push his magic a bit further by having his wings not only glide him to the ground, but actually flap like 'real' wings - thus carry him farther than just the original spell. ###Kyson, by virtue of his spell, can travel as fast as a rider on a horse but can do so in a straight line rather than having to climb up, down and around hills. He is able to make it to the cave in a number of hours. Scene 4: Cave of Webs #Kyson gets to the cave and sneaks inside. ##He discovers signs of a fight near the entrance to the Dwarf Tomb. ###There are several goblin bodies on the ground each hacked upon by blades and a few pierced with arrows. Additionally there are a number of dog-sized, grey spider corpses here and there. #Kyson is joined by Moro and Blackwing who have come to help. ##Blackwing needs to repay the debt he owes for the boys saving his life in the cave. #The three sneak further into the cave and follow the signs of battle left by the party. Not a single human body is found. #When they approach one of the side tunnels, Moro's life-sense tells her that there are humans nearby. ##Moro is an apprentice druid and, as such, can feel the resonant forces of life around her much like a Wizard feels the presence of arcane magic. #The three enter the side tunnel and discover a cave filled with webbed bodies hanging from the ceiling and glowing egg-sacks on the ground. ##As they approach, one of the egg sacks hatch revealing a hybrid goblin/spider creature that immediately crawls to the nearest webbed body and starts to feed. #As the spider-thing crawls on the cocoon the body in it starts to twitch. Whoever's in it is still alive. ##Blackwing launches and arrow and it skewers the spider-thing through its chest; dropping it to the ground. #The Three approach the cocoon and cut through the webbing to reveal that it's Padryn. ##Seeing a few other body-sized cocoon's hanging from the ceiling, they quickly try and free who else might be left. There is only one other guard left alive. ###No sign of Mathys or Talik. ###Padryn reveals that he and the guards were providing cover for the boys and the Pilgrim to make their escape but he saw them get surrounded somewhere near the tomb on the way out. #Padryn and the Guard, Moro, Blackwing and Kyson continue further down the tunnel from the chamber - looking for signs of the boys. ##Moro says that she can feel a great many life forces further down the tunnel and that not all are goblin. #As they approach they can hear dozens of goblin voices chanting and Moro starts to become sick to her stomach. ##The warping of life forces is something that she's never felt before and the feeling is upsetting. #They discover Mathys' potion belt along the side of the tunnel as they find a boulder to hide behind while they watch what's happening. Scene 5: A Dark Ritual #Adria, the Witch, is standing above an altar where one of the human guards is being held in place by the goblins. ##The guard is dazed but still conscious. #Before the party can formulate a plan, Adria pulls the life-energy out of the guard and transfers it to a nearby spider that doubles its size. ##The guard struggles and screams but can do nothing. He appears weaker and somewhat older after the transferance. #Adria does this three more times before she has consumed all of the life force of the guard. #She calls for another sacrifice and the goblins bring up the boys, Talik and Mathys. ##By now the party has formulated a plan to scatter the goblins and rescue the hostages. #With her sling, Moro hurls several of the potion bottles from the belt into the room to start the chaos as Adria started to draw life energy out of Mathys. ##Blackwing launches an arrow at Adria disrupting the process. ##The goblins scatter and some of the goblin/spider hybrids attack and are fought off by Padryn and the rescued guard. ##The spiders move in to stand around Adria to protect her while she escapes. #As the goblins regroup and start to charge the party near the entrance to the chamber, Kyson conjures a large, v-shaped wall of arcane force to block and divide them. ##Talik and Mathys are still on the other side of the goblins fighting for their lives. ##Kyson then pushes the center of the v-wall inward to reach the boys - essentially dividing the goblins in half for a moment. ##Talik and Mathys, seeing the escape route, run through to the party as the goblins tear down the wall. #The party retreats into the cave of webs. ##Talik is helping Mathys walk because the ritual, though incomplete, has left him dazed. #Once they get into the web cave Kyson creates another barrier to slow the goblins down. ##Mathys sees Moro with his potions belt and tosses a small flask against the nearest egg sack. The whole thing goes up in a woosh of flames and starts the room of webs to burn. #The party leaves the web cave as the goblins continue to tear down Kyson's force wall. Scene 6: The Tomb #More spiders advance on their position from where they just came but also from the entrance and block their path. Talik throws one of his axes at a larger variety of a grey spider that charges them from the rear and kills it but is now down to only one weapon and a dagger. #Kyson suggests that they go up the ledge beside them. The alchemist clears a path by throwing his solvent up before them that creates a yellowish cloud of smoke that instantly disolves the curtains of web-fluff. ##Moro climbs up and starts taking shots at the approaching spiders with Blackwing's bow. Kyson follows and reaches for Blackwing so that the Pilgrim can climb up. The Alchemist climbs up and throws out some tanglefoot pots to slow down any spiders that approach from the rear. #At least they're higher than the spiders. Talik is able to kick back or fend off the first few brave spiders that try and climb up to get them while Moro and the Alchemist keep them tied up or driven back. #Kyson hears someone say "Behind you" and turns to see the faint outline of a door set into the cave wall. Using his light to see better he approaches as the others are trying to figure out how to get out of the ever-increasing waves of spiders. #With a simple 'clean' spell, Kyson removes all of the grime and webbing still left on the door to reveal it completely. It's dwarven made. They all look to the Elf/Dwarf to open it since he (at least looks) like a Dwarf. He claims that he doesn't understand the writing on the door and is busy holding off the spiders. (Blackwing is laying on the ground between them. # Slowly Kyson is able to sound out the letters and figures out what it says. It is a Tomb . ##"Here lies the remains of two friends who would not be parted in life or in death." #Since all Dwarf doors have some cunning trick to opening them, Kyson figures out that two friends need to touch the door at the same time to open it. Talik is called from the edge, with lots of grumbling, to touch the door with Kyson and the door clicks open. #The inside of the tomb is free of any webbing and looks as clean and as new as the day it was sealed. Kyson calls for everyone to move inside the tomb while he goes further in to investigate a possible way out or at least a break from the fighting. Scene 7: The Tunnel #The tomb is sealed from the cave - protecting the party and survivors from the Goblins and Spiders. #The door through the cave was actually a back door. The front door to the tomb is covered by the hill but still able to be opened. #Once the party is set, they open the door and head straight for Thistletop. PART 3: Attack on Thistletop 'Scene 1: Retreat' #With the rescue of the guards and folks from the dwarven cave, the party has escaped south to the Hanabril village of Thistletop. #Adria, enfuriated that someone would disrupt her work and potentially reveal her plans before she is ready, sends a force of goblins and her giant spiders to destroy the Hanabril village and all within it. 'Scene 2: '''The Seige #The survivors of the halfling village to the north have arrived at Thistletop and they have joined with the clan to defend their new refuge from the coming Goblin hordes. #The party arrives to find the village ready to defend itself. Several druids have come out of the forest to aid in the defense. #With the wounded stashed in the main hut with the women and children, the party fan out to help with the defense. #Before they have much time to think about it - the sound of several goblin calls and wolf howls can be heard in the distance. #Druids begin calling upon the forest to defend them and raise a wall of brambles and thorns around the village. 'Scene 3: 'To the Rescue #The battle wasn't going well. #The party fights to help save themselves and the village but the combination of goblins and spiders is hard to overcome. #The giant, horse-sized spiders take the full force of the druids and kyson to deal with. #When the battle seems lost, the sound of silvery trumpets can be heard over the battle. #Lord Bardos and his men charge in on horse back to drive off the goblins and destroy the spiders. 'Scene 4: 'The Treaty of Two Peoples #The battle is won and the goblins and spiders destroyed. Those who didn't die in battle quickly disappeared into the shadows of the forest. #Adria was beaten but not defeated. #Bardos sends men to protect the Druids as they head to destroy any remaining spiders / eggs within the cave. #To celebrate their victory of the shared enemy, Lord Bardos invites the leaders of the Hanabril of Thistletop to Thornhaven to share in their Harvest. ##Since the attacks from the Goblins, the Hanabril have not had the opportunity to prepare their village for the winter. Lord Bardos' gift of food and supplies is generous. #It is, essentially, a Thanksgiving feast with the two people as winter sets in. Category:Fiction/879 KR Category:Fiction/Kyson